St.

Aloysius Gonzaga Integrated School of Cavite

“The Effects of Social Networking Sites to the

Academic Performance of High School Students of SAGIS”

By

JOMARI CUISIA

And

EDWARD YACAP

A research paper submitted to MS. WIMALYN F. CAINAP as a partial fulfilment of the requirements for
Research.

March 2013
 Dedication

To our parents, teachers, friends and our inspirations.

 Acknowledgement

The researchers would like to extend their sincerest gratitude to those people who helped in their

paper. They are the following:

Ms. Wimalyn Cainap, the researchers' adviser, for helping the researchers know what they must

do in this study and for correcting grammatical error in this paper.

Ms. Carla Fiel, who taught the researchers in statistical analysis

Of course the panellists; Ms. Maurich May Cainap and Sir Russel Valdez who criticized this

study.

Aside from that, the researchers would like to give the sincerest gratitude to the respondents for

answering the questionnaires; the researchers’ subjects for their voluntary participation in their

experimental procedure and for their willingness to take challenges to them and consequences.

The researchers would like also to thank their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cuisia and Mr. and Mrs.

Yacap, for giving financial contribution to their study.

 Abstract

This research paper is entitled, "The effects of social networking sites to the academic excellence

of the students in SAGIS". The researchers had decided to study this because SNS is getting more popular

among teenagers and students and curious of the effects of SNS to them. Since the students are still high

school students, the researchers decided to conduct this research to gain students, teachers, parents’

knowledge.

It only covered the whole high school department of SAGIS, from 1st year to 4th year which

totalled in 44 respondents. The researchers used the simple random sampling (SRS) to pick 30 students

and purposive sampling since the students are Aloysians and they aren’t the same in Intelligence Quotient

(IQ). The length of the experimental procedure covered 5 days straight and after that, the subjects were

given a quiz in three subjects such as Mathematics, Science and English to measure the academic

excellence of the students.

Based on the students’ answers, they use Facebook mostly. As a matter of fact they found it easy

to use for communication. Moreover, the students got affected in a positive way like SNS have given

them some facts, trivia, and information in the society and in a negative way by distracting their focus and

being a source of addiction. The researchers’ concluded that social networking sites can affect the

academic excellence of the students.

 Table of Contents

Dedication ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i

Acknowledgement ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ii

Abstract ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ iii

Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ iv

Chapter 1

Introduction

A. Background of the Study -------------------------------------------------------------- 1-3

B. Statement of the Problem ------------------------------------------------------------- 4

C. Objectives ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

D. Scope and Limitation ------------------------------------------------------------------ 6

E. Significance of the Study ------------------------------------------------------------- 7

F. Definition of Terms ------------------------------------------------------------------- 8

G. Framework of the Study -------------------------------------------------------------- 9-11

Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature ------------------------------------------------------------------ 12-15

Chapter 3
 Methodology ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16-23

A. Locale of the Study

B. Respondents of the Study

C. Material and Instruments

D. Hypothesis

E. Design/ Method

F. Sampling Technique

G. Statistical Analysis

H. Time Frame

I. Budget

Chapter 4

Results and Discussions --------------------------------------------------------------------- 24-29

Chapter 5

Recommendation and Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------- 30-32

A. Recommendation

B. Conclusion

Bibliography ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- v

Appendices ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ vi
 Chapter 1: Introduction

A. Background of the Study

Social networking websites or the so called SNS is an online service for people who want social

relations to other people around the world. The netizens or the people who use the internet use SNS for

communicating to others by means of e-mail or instant message using their own account. SNS are widely

used nowadays in our developing country. Most SNS are to provide interactions of different people who

share the same interests, likes and even real-life connections.

According to Miles Walker(2011), “Social networking site is said to have begun in 1978 with

Bulletin Board System or BBS. BBS was required to connect in a modem of that computer and can

exchange information through telephone pole and was the very first system that allows user to sign in and

interact with other people but it is slow since only one user can log at a time”. The SNS system started

very slow, long time ago with the usage of telephone pole to connect to others. When they use the

telephone for calling, the internet dies out. They can’t use both at the same time so it’s quite troublesome

in the late years. The very first version of instant messaging came about 1988 with Inter Relay Chat or

IRC, a Unix-based limiting access to most people that was used for link and file sharing and generally

keeping in touch with one another (Walker,2012). Using an instant messaging helps conserve time since

in the late years most people use letters to send their feelings to their loved ones in a faraway place.

Keeping in touch with others gave them the information if something is good for a celebration to happen.
The first copies of web browsers were distributed by the bulletin board Usenet that was created by Jan

Ellis and Truscott, which allows the user to post articles that were referred to as “news” (Walker, 2012).

Web browsers are the program needed to open a website. Examples of web browsers are Mozilla Firefox,

Internet Explorer, Opera Mini, Google Chrome etc. Users could type the website on the web browsers in

the upper part that is called web address.

According to an article in www.studymode.com, “Nowadays, social networking sites such as

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, MySpace and others are attracting millions of people around the world,

especially the students. Social networking sites had been the source of happiness for many students”. SNS

have become a trending topic nowadays and viral among teenagers. Especially to the teenagers, many of

them are associated to SNS, since teenagers must always be in with what is popular nowadays. Even

education has been influenced by SNS with Elizabeth Power(2012), stating “The potential for using SNS

to further the goal of education is immerse, and teachers are making faraway into the world of online

social networking for educational purposes.” Since there are lots of SNS, what could be the most visited?

According to ebizma.com, the top 5 most visited sites are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and

MySpace.

SNS have a lot of uses like communicating with friends, sharing with the same interests to other

people, online games that take away the boredom, and as of now SNS is still upgrading and advancing to

make it more interesting. But, how can someone say that a website is an SNS? According to Ryan

Dube(www.socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com), an SNS consists of these characteristics- first is User-

based, meaning the information are built and created by users and not by any webmaster; second, it must

be Interactive, meaning it must not only be a collection of chat rooms and forums but there is also

network-based gaming application were you could play with others; third is Community Driven, meaning

just like communities and social groups around the world with the fact that the members hold common

beliefs; fourth, Relationship, the more relationships that you have within the network, the more

established you are toward the center of that network, and lastly is Emotion over content, meaning that
the social network actually provides users with emotional security and a sense that no matter what

happens even if it is divorce, break-up or any family crisis, are able to jump online and communicate

directly within the circle of friends.” The researchers considered YouTube as a social networking site

because it is famous or in among teenagers like Facebook. Because of the advancement of SNS as days

pass, teenagers become addicted to it. According to Whitehouse (2011),” there are many negative effects

of SNS, like; students may lose concentration in school. For instance, students always feel tired in class.

As a result, they do not understand what their teacher taught them. Thus, students could fail in their

examination”. Whenever they go home, some students go directly to computers to be updated and be

consumed by SNS, forgetting their assignments. They even go all night long just to play a game in SNS

or chat with friends. This kind of action will result to tardiness in school and might affect their focus in

the classes that leads to the dropping of their academic and physical performance. However, according to

the survey conducted by Reyjunko (2011), it stated that out of 2500 college students, most of them spend

only an hour and forty minutes on Facebook, which means that although they used SNS for a short time

they prioritize their study. All in all, it really depends on the person on whether he’ll choose the good

consequence or the bad one. Given the data, this study will find out the answer to what effect does SNS

have to the academic performance of high school students in St. Aloysius Gonzaga Integrated School.
 B. Statement of the Problem

This study proposes to answer “What are the effects of Social Networking Sites on the study

habits of students in SAGIS” as its general objective. SNS has become viral in the society and even the

world. This has become teenagers’ way of killing boredom. Our system for school has been worsening

because there are many students or teenagers that are starting to lose focus on their studies. Their

tardiness is one of the reasons. Many students are saying that they are tired, they lack sleep and even start

sleeping in class. The researchers concluded that since teenagers always want to be in, social networking

could be the culprit. Hence, this study was conducted to know if such activity results to this.
C. Objectives

General objectives

To know the effects of social networking sites in the academic performance of students

Specific objectives

To know what social networking sites are most visited by the students

To determine what aspect or characteristic has social networking sites to encourage

students to visit

To know the disadvantages and advantages of SNS to the students

To know if Social Networking Sites affect the academic performance of the students
D. Scope and Limitation

This study investigates the effects of social networking websites in the study of students. The

study includes what social networking sites they visit. Furthermore, in this study it also contained the

aspects social networking sites (SNSs) have to encourage users to visit. This study also wrote about the

disadvantages and advantages of SNS in the academic excellence of the students. Besides, this study

would discuss if social networking sites affects the academic performance of the students. However, the

study would not cover their financial status like if they use money for several purposes. It will not also

include the effects of such websites to the emotional aspect of the students. Aside from that, the study

would not include how teenagers or students used social networking sites.
E. Significance of the Study

Social networking sites (SNS), are deemed to be one of the factors why students’ get interrupted

on their studies. As a matter of fact, SNS has a dual face that can bring to the students. It has advantages

and disadvantages for its users.

Nowadays, parents prioritize their children in terms of different aspects, particularly on their

studies. Because of this, this study aims to help them parents be aware on the possible effects that SNS

could give to their children. This study would give the parents knowledge on the probable academic

failure of their children –students as a result of constant interaction with it. Moreover, this study is also

targeted to benefit other researchers or people who need facts and information about this topic. This study

is also seen to be beneficial to the students.

Furthermore, this study could give a probable explanation to the teachers who surmise why their

students' academic excellence are changing. Since this study focuses on the effects of SNS on the

students, it could also help DEPED to create a better system for the students who are struggling with bad

effects of social networking sites.

F. Definition of Terms

In order to understand the subject matter clearly, these are the following key concepts:

social networking sites (SNS) - are sites students use for non-academic and academic purposes in

several terms like communicating with their friends, playing games

(related in history, facts, information, and etc.), viewing their profiles

e.g. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Friendster

Profile - something to do with pictures of users and information about them

netizens - citizen in the Facebook society

Students - persons or users who use social networking sites particularly in SAGIS

Academic performance - skills or ability of the students in terms of their academic to pass in required

subjects especially on their weekly quizzes in 1 week on Math, Science

and English subjects

Extracurricular - activities that are not related in academic success e.g. parties, picnics and etc. which

sometimes distract the study habits of students

Personal account - an account of individuals which students or users used for visiting social networking

sites
G. Framework of the Study

Our research study “The effects of social networking site to the academic performance of

students” tried to answer the question “What will happen to the academic performance of student with

their habitual interaction to SNS?” The research study of Nayzabekov (2012) claimed that SNS will affect

it in a bad way, with the statement, “the idea of multitasking which could perform different years of

action while visiting SNS would affect the concentration of students, because for example a student has a

lot of assignments and works on different subjects instead of doing it on time and early, he/she visits first

the SNS.” According to this statement, SNS will affect the concentration of a student that we presume

would lead to the bending of focus of student from studying to usage of SNS. This is supported by the

statement of Ellis and Knaus which sees it as, “a failure to initiate or complete a task or activity by

determined time.” In other words, he sees SNS-related activities as non –academic activities that will

result in postponing the completion of academic task.

However, the study of Elizabeth Power (2012) stated that SNS has a good effect, with the

statement, “the potential for using SNS to further the goal of education is immerse, and teachers are

making the faraway into the world of online social networking site for educational purposes.” As the

statement said, there is a lot of potential in furthering the education using SNS since teachers would be

able to support the students even if the school period ends.

Power (2012) sees SNS as “a coin that have two sides”, meaning that there are dual effects of

SNS. The researchers decided to use this theory together with the integration of Power and Ellis and

Knaus as the framework of the study.

 EFFECT OF SNS TO THE ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE OF HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS

Facebook, Twitter,
Myspace, Tumblr, Aloysians
Friendster, etc

(SNS)

BAD EFFECT
GOOD EFFECT
●Nayzabekov, 2012
●Elizabeth Power, 2012
-Multitasking could affect badly to the
-SNS has a lot of potential in
concentration of a student
furthering the goal of education
●Ellis and Knaus

-doing non-academic activities

resulting in postponing of completion

Diagram 1.1. Showing the connection of the different studies.

In this diagram, the connection of the different studies are shown. We could see that SNS such as

Facebook, Twitter, Myspace,Friendster, Tumblr seems to have dual effect in the academic performance of

Aloysian students. The study of Nayzabekov(2012) and Ellis and Knaus stated that SNS is one of the

things that students do and causes multitasking that leads to postponing of the things that must be done

that can be considered as a bad effect. However SNS is considered to be ”a coin that have dual effect” as

the study of Elizabeth Power(2012) stated. According to this study, there is a lot of potential in SNS for

furthering the goal of education which is considered to be good effect.

 These studies helped the researchers to have some information regarding their research paper. It will

also be the researchers’ guide in finding out the answer to their paper. By using this as a basis for the

paper, the researchers could have comparison with the studies and the researchers papers and if both of

the studies ended with the same conclusion or different from one another.
 Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature

Nayzabekov (2012), in his study entitled, "Negative Impacts of Social Networking Sites on the

Academic Excellence of the Students", identifies the idea of multitasking, which students could perform

different types of actions while visiting SNS to include texting, instant messaging, playing games and

searching information online. The author pointed out that multitasking skills or actions could affect the

concentration of students. Performing different types of action could affect one’s performance not only in

academic but also in the everyday task of students. For example, a student who has a lot of assignments

and works on different subjects instead of doing it on time and early, visits SNS Facebook which seemed

to be popular among teenagers nowadays. It also identifies the procrastination 1 -related problems that

might evolve as a possible outcome of SNS usage of the students. In this paper, he cited the idea of Ellis

and Knaus, which defines the term as “a failure to initiate or complete a task or activity by predetermined

time.” In other words, it can be described as a specific behavioral pattern that is dedicated for doing any

non-academic tasks. There was a survey conducted by de Villiers, 2010, p. 175, and was cited in the same

study of Nayzabekov(2012), that there’s a significant number of students (9 out of 200) who studying at

the University of South Africa claimed that they were using Facebook for academic purposes. Although,

more than a half of the respondents had a Facebook account (105 students), only 5% of them are involved

in the learning process with the help of SNS. According to the study, they did not do their academic

requirements involved in the learning process with the help of social networking sites and it could

possibly involve in the negative attitude towards their work. For instances, lack of parents' attention could

possibly affect the motivation of students or their children to do work. Instead of doing their work, they

visited their personal accounts in particular social networking sites (SNS). Hence, this study also pointed

out the users of SNS did not pay attention on their works or academic requirements. It also treated the

1
Procrastination, the act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off or delaying, especially something requiring
immediate attention.
internet as a big temptation on the students which they didn't refuse. According to Whitehouse (2011),”

there are many negative effects of SNS, like; students may lose concentration in school. For instance,

students always feel tired in class. As a result, they do not understand what their teacher taught them.

Thus, students can fail examination”. Whenever they go home, some students go directly to computers to

be updated and be consumed by SNS, forgetting their assignments. They even go all night long just to

play a game in SNS or chat with friends. This kind of action will result to tardiness in school and

affecting their focus in the classes that leads to the dropping of their academic and physical performance.

This study also covered the possible good effects of SNS on the study habits of students. A significant

number of students (9 out of 200) showed their leadership skills not only on the internet, but inside the

classroom as well. In fact, they were organizing almost all extracurricular activities such as parties,

picnics and sport competitions besides 5% of them are involved with the learning process with the help of

SNS. It is also said that, the more students are involved in the academic tasks, the more chances that they

will develop a positive attitude towards their works.

In a 2012 news article of The Irish Times entitled, "Facebook can impact study habits" it pointed

out that Facebook can impact study habits of students. This application is getting in through the phone,

the iPad, the desktop and WIFI (Wireless Fidelity) connection where you can connect everywhere. In

those technological products, students can easily access or connect on different social networking sites

(SNSs). As a matter of fact, there are many students who use iPads which means that students can update

their Facebook status while they’re supposed to be reading textbooks. After in their school, they go home

and spend hours in SNS, checking-in compulsively all through a study period, and never staying on task

for more than a few minutes at a time. As a result of this phenomenon, social networking sites could

affect their study habits by SNS particularly Facebook. As mentioned, students can easily access or

connected in different SNS because of gadgets like cell phone which have many applications nowadays.

This modern world gives people a lot of advantages and disadvantages in terms of many gadgets that are
now in or famous particularly in teenagers and generally participation in online SNS has a negative

connection to the student achievement.

Social networking sites (SNS) seemed to have advantages and disadvantages not only on students

but to everyone who use it. In the group study of Kimberly Banquilet.al(2009), entitled, " Social

Networking Sites Affect One’s Academic Adversely", it stated the disadvantages of SNS. It pointed out

that, there’s a lot of cyber-bullying in social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Friendster and Myspace.

Sharing and posting of any kind of media - a form of work where it is free to show different media such

as photos, music, videos and even text especially sharing of their status online. This activity may lead in

cyber bullying or any type of disrespectful doings to other people. Thus, it appears that SNS can give

disadvantages in the users especially to the young ages.

Power (2012) on her research paper entitled “The effects of social networking sites in the study of

students”, caution that a “coin has two sides” and negative side of SNS usage, such as distraction to the

users has been cited on her study. She means that SNS (as a coin) has dual effects on the people who used

it. She stated that, the potential for using SNS to further the goal of education is immense, and teachers

are making the faraway into the world of online social networking for educational purposes. This paper

also reviews the available literature on the relationship and impacts of online SNS have on student

engagement and achievement. Online SNS are plentiful, varied and easily accessible to students and

teachers alike. This paper reviewed literature which has reported positive impacts of SNS on student

engagement and achievement. Generally, participation in online social networking sites has a positive

connection to student engagement. Specifically, a favourable aspect of SNS is their ability to connect

people of seemingly different culture, background and living location despite the glaring distance in

between, promoting intercultural relations and stronger ties. It also increases the chance of single

individuals to find their potential partners and with such a vast array to choose from, nonetheless. Internet

users post different forms of media (pictures, videos, music, etc.) In this form of work, it shows the

freedom of the users to post different media like posting his/her status, following their favourite artists or
idols adding friends, people and etc., sharing information, chatting and everything. The use of SNS could

improve the self-esteem and development of the whole person, which can ultimately lead to performance

proficiency and future success.2 It also pointed out the neutral effects of the SNS to the students. It was

reported on her study on the relationship between SNS usage and educational performance of the student

user, that the internet or SNS usage is not significant enough to affect the academic performance

adversely. As well, no association was found between grade point averages of student Facebook users and

non-users cited by this study.

2
E. Power, 2012
 Chapter 3: Methodology

A. Locale of the study

The school where the researchers gathered and conducted experiment is St. Aloysius Gonzaga

Integrated School. This school derived its name from St. Aloysius Gonzaga who is the patron of youth.

This school was established 14 years ago (1998). The school covers approximately 370 sq. m area of land.

B. Respondents and Subjects of the study

The study has a prospective respondent throughout this school. It focused on the effects of social

networking sites on the academic excellence of the high school students who served as respondents and

subjects of this study. All the students are respondents of this study which means that they voluntary

answered the questionnaires that the researchers gave them. Moreover, the respondents covered the 1st

year until the 4th year students who actively participated in the study. However, the experimental

procedure conducted by the researchers did not include all the high school students. In order to become

clear it would be discussed under the sampling technique used by the researchers.
 C. Material/ Instrument

In this study, the researchers used different materials and instruments. These are the following

materials used in the study: papers for surveys (respondents) interview questions (teacher and

psychologist), pen, notes, folders, an electronic study for different references such as facts, information

about social networking sites that researchers needed for this study.

D. Hypothesis

In this study, the researchers identified the Null hypothesis (Ho)to be tested as:

Ho 1. The social networking sites (SNS) have no significant effects to the academic excellence of the

high school students of SAGIS.

E. Design / Method

• Experimental Design
 This study used the experimental research design. It discusses about the effects of social

networking sites to the students’ academic performance. This study also conducts an experiment on the

high school students throughout the school of SAGIS.

The study aims to find out the effects of social networking sites on the academic performance of

students as a general objective. It also aims to answer what aspect of SNS has to encourage users and

what social networking sites are used mostly by the students. Lastly, it aims to answer the disadvantages

and advantages of using social networking sites.

The researcher asked 30 students to participate. The students were divided by half. The first half

was called set A which served as the control group and the remaining half was called set B and served as

the experimental group. The set A surrendered their personal accounts in any social networking sites to

ensure that they would not visit social networking sites. (See appendix, E) The experimental group was

obliged to go online for one week in their houses with a minimum of 1 hour per usage. The experimental

group had their freedom to visit SNS such as Facebook were they could actually visit for a long time.

Also, in the experiment, the researchers handed out the experimental group online fee (money) and made

them decide when and where they would go online using the mentioned SNS. This measurement was

done since the researcher couldn’t find any computer shop where 15 computers that could be available at

the same time within a certain period of a week. To ensure that the experimental group was online for

1hour or more, the researchers themselves made sure to be online to properly check them and would chat

to them time to time.

To determine if social networking sites affect the academic excellence of the students, after a

week of procedure the two sets were given a surprise quiz by the researchers. The surprise quiz was all

about by their past lessons in Mathematics, Science and English subjects which the researchers asked

from their different subject teachers. The scores of the control group were compared to the experimental

group to measure effects of social networking sites (SNS) on the academic excellence of students. (See

appendix, C)
F. Sampling Technique

In this study, the researchers used 2 types of sampling technique. The first technique is simple

random sampling (SRS). Since the high school students are 48 and the researchers needed only 30

subjects for experimental procedure the researchers did draw lots to get the 30 high school students. The

30 students were equally divided into two groups, the first group called as control and the other group

called as experimental. The second technique is purposive sampling, since the researchers aimed to

answer “the effects of social networking sites on the academic excellence of high school students in

SAGIS”, which that means the researchers would conduct an experiment on Aloysians. The selected

Aloysians high school students drawn for each group have a large discrepancy on their intelligence

quotient (as determined by their academic standing) so honor students that filled one group were

distributed to the other group.

For example, the 6 honor students or above average students were divided into halves and the 3

above average students are included under the control and the other 3 above average students are included

in the experimental group. On the other hand, the average students as well as the below average students

were also divided into halves.

G. Statistical Analysis

The researchers used the “two tailed test”. As defined by investopedia, it is a statistical test in

which the critical area of a distribution is two sided and tests whether a sample is either greater than or

less than a certain range of values. If the sample that is being tested falls into either of the critical areas,

the alternative hypothesis will be accepted instead of the null hypothesis. The two-tailed test gets its name

from testing the area under both of the tails (sides) of a normal distribution. Although the test can be used

in other non-normal distributions, the researchers considered the fact that null hypothesis to be tested

involved difference from alternative. Aside from that the two-tailed test considered the 2 different

treatments which the researchers applied on the students. The control group scores (Xi) in each students

on three subjects were added then divided by three to get the average of the score each of the students.

Similarly, the experimental group scores (Xj) were also added then divided by three to get the average of

each student. After that, the researchers added all the results scores for both control and experimental

group. Then, the sum of control group was divided by the mean which is 15, and this also applies to the

experimental group. (For solving the equation see appendix, H)

After solving the scores of the subjects, the decision was that the null hypothesis should be

rejected which the researchers tested and that the alternative hypothesis should be accepted which means

that SNS can affect the academic excellence of the students.

H. Time Frame

Month(s) Action(s)

-1st month (November) * chapter 1 of the research paper, including the

following parts:

• title

• preliminaries

• dedication

• acknowledgement

• abstract

• table of contents and figures and list

of tables

* Introduction

• statement of the problem

• objectives

• scope and limitations

• significance of the study

 • definition of terms

* Review of Related Literature

• framework of the study

- 2nd month (December) * continuation of Review of Related Literature

* Theoretical framework

* Methodology

* doing of surveys, questionnaires and

interviews

* doing of permission letter for our subjects

- 3rd month (January)

* conducting experiment

* Result and discussion

* Summary and discussion

- 4th month (February)

* Recommendation and implication

* Appendices
 * Bibliography

- 5th month (March)

- First Defense

- Second Defense

I. Budget

This study spent this amount of money (though it is not exact) for the following expenses:

Printing purposes P500

Typing job P200

Papers P100

Personal Computer rental P750

Transportation for several purposes P 500

________

TOTAL P2, 500

 Chapter 4: Results and Discussion

A. Aloysians’ most visited sites

Social Networking Sites are the public sites where you can bond through internet with your

friends as defined by Mrs. Fatima Panong, an elementary teacher for almost ten years. Similarly, Rachel

Arellano, a psychologist, said that, these are the sites where you can freely share what’s on your mind.

Since SNS is becoming a trending topic, most of the people are using SNS that has been created and

became popular such as Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Friendster and etc. According to

socialmediatoday.com, the top 5 most visited sites are Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn and Bebo.

Similarly, ebizma.com ranked that the top 5 most visited sites are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest

and MySpace among the students. Because of these viral sites among the students, the researchers

decided to know what the most visited site is. After the survey was conducted, the researchers found out

that these sites were the most visited sites among the Aloysians.

1ST RANKED BY THE STUDENTS

40
35
30
25
20
1ST RANKED
15
10
5
0
Facebook Youtube Twitter Friendster Myspace Wattpad

Fig. 1 A graph showing the first most visited site by Aloysians.

 The previous graph, shows that, Facebook is the most visited site among the Aloysian high

school student which got 38 votes.

2nd RANKED BY THE STUDENTS

25
20
15
10
5 2nd Ranked

Fig. 2 A graph showing the second most visited site.

3rd RANKED BY THE STUDENTS

14
12
10
8
6
3rd Ranked
4
2
0

Fig. 3 A graph showing the third most visited site.

Aside from that, the second and third graph showed that, the second most visited site among the

students is YouTube which got 23 votes. The researchers considered YouTube as a social networking

because like Facebook it is easy to use, it is public which means that anyone could use it, you can have

your accounts by signing-up their form like the other sites and you can socialize through comment and

sharing those videos which you are or they’re talking about. And lastly, the 3 rd most visited site among
the students is Twitter which got 12 votes. According to Mrs. Panong and Ms. Arellano, Facebook,

Twitter and YouTube are the most visited sited among the students and this was similarly shown by the

survey conducted among the interviewed students.

B. Hey, what’s with SNS? ( Aspects of SNS that make it appealing to students)

Even though, these sites were the most visited among the Aloysians, the researchers weren’t

contented with their answers so the researchers wanted to know what are the aspects do social networking

sites have that encourage students to visit them. According to their answers, these were the following

characteristics that encourage them. Firstly, students used SNS for communication through their friends,

classmates, relatives, and others. The researchers defined the situation as a form of "socialization". The

communication of students with different people are through chatting, video calling, voice calling,

messaging, group messaging commenting on different media as well on the friends' wall. According to

Pew Internet, a study entitled, “Social Media and Mobile Internet use among Teens and Young Adults",

86% of the teenagers’ activities are commenting on a friend's page or wall. Aside from that, it encourages

the students because it is easy to use and communicate too. In fact, all of the students had Facebook

accounts. Moreover, some social networking sites (SNS) offer entertaining games and some games gave

facts, trivia and information around the world particularly Facebook which has a lot of games and

applications and the researchers considered that this characteristic can attract the students to encourage

and visit always. Thus, this characteristics may lead the students used it for long hours and may affect the

students.

C. The Pro’s and Con’s of SNS

In this modern day, SNS are becoming viral especially to the students. Mrs. Panong and Ms.

Arellano said that, students used social networking sites after the school hours instead of studying their
lessons. According to Ms. Arellano, one hour (1) per day should be enough to use SNS. If it exceeds,

physical effects such as dizziness and eye visions may affect. Mrs. Panong also said that, using SNS

should be limited because it can lead to trouble. The researchers also considered that since social

networking sites (SNS) give freedom to expose or express your feelings through different media such as

photos, videos, music, text and anything where the students are encouraged to visits it could affect the

emotional, mental, and social of the users because some posts are rude and disrespectful to others. In the

study of Kimberly Banquilet. al., entitled, "Social Networking Sites Affect One’s Academic Adversely ",

there are lots of cyber-bullying through the social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, and MySpace.

This activity may lead in any type of disrespectful doings to the other people and seemingly tends that

social networking sites (SNS) can give disadvantages in the users especially to the young ages since the

younger ages or the teenagers are easily attracted to SNS. With that said, cyber-bullying would be

considered as disadvantages, since having bullied in the SNS would be the same as bullying in the school

and if a student would be bullied, his academic performance would dramatically fall or affected in a bad

way. Ms. Arellano also stated that, SNS can affect the students negatively since they can be addicted She

explained that it consumes their time instead of doing something related to their studies, forgetting their

assignments, becomes lazy and irresponsible with their things and loss of concentration. The researchers

asked the students if they are addicted to social networking sites.

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
YES NO

Fig. 4 A graph showing the number of addicted and not addicted.

Out of 44 students, 15 of them said that they are addicted to SNS and 29 of them said that they are not

addicted. According to the Aloysians, SNS can lead them to lose on focus on their studies and may start

to forget their responsibilities such as doing their assignments, projects and even forgetting what they're

learned in school. For example, visiting social networking sites eats their time" as stated by some

Aloysians. According to Zharlet Monteagudo, a 4th year respondent of the survey, she couldn’t focus on

her studies and quickly forgets the lessons that she learned for the day. The tendency was they didn't

prioritize their homework. This is one of the negative effects of social networking sites on the students.

On the other hand, social networking sites (SNS) have the advantages on the students. Based

on them, SNS could help them to communicate with their classmates as well as the teachers who are now

visiting SNS. Through SNS, communicating to their classmates became easier. Asking what the topics are

discussed, what their assignments and projects and etc. could also be done. With the statement of Korina

Nares, a 3rd year respondent of the survey, saying that SNS can help her to communicate with her friends

on their current lessons, topics and discussions, the power of online community has been clearly

identified.

D. Does SNS affect the academic performance of a student?

The researchers proved that, SNS can affect students. In the surveys that the researchers gave

to the respondents it showed that, social networking sites could affect them in neutral ways. Similarly,

based on the experimental procedure conducted by the researcher, it showed that social networking sites

have a significant effect on the academic excellence of the students since the result of the two-test is

1.701. According to statistical rules, if the obtained result is lower than 1.33, the Null Hypothesis (Ho)

would be accepted and if it is higher, the Null Hypothesis would be rejected, thus accepting the
Alternative Hypothesis (Ha) was the decision. SNS could affect students either in positive or negative

effects. Based on the students there are lots of disadvantages of SNS to the students over the benefits.

The opinions given by Mrs. Panong and Ms. Arellano stated that, there are more negative effects of SNS

on the academic excellence of the students rather than positive effects. In this paper, the gathered scores

of the control group are higher, unlike the experimental group who used social networking sites for a

week. This validates Mrs. Panong’s statement that those students who didn’t use SNS get high grades

other than who used social networking sites for long hours. With that said, in the survey the researchers

conducted, the researchers questioned them how long do they use SNS. According to them most of them

use SNS for 1-2 hours a day. The researchers concluded that using SNS for 1-2 hours a day is long

enough.

The researchers found out that, social networking sites can affect the academic excellence of

the students. In a 2012 news article of The Irish Times entitled, "Facebook can impact study habits" it

pointed out that Facebook can impact study habits of students. The news article pointed out that because

of the modernization of the society nowadays students are now visiting social networking sites in any

gadgets which are easily to connect, use and communicate to their friends. The researchers proved that,

SNS can affect the academic excellence of the Aloysian students.

 Chapter 5: Recommendation and Conclusion

A. Recommendation

Social networking sites (SNS) are popular among teenagers. The researchers conducted the study

about SNS to determine the effects of social networking sites to the academic excellence performance of

the students. By doing so, the researchers would give information regarding the effects of social

networking sites to the students especially to the future researchers who would use this study for reference

or would repeat the same study as like this.

The researchers would like to recommend some things to the future researchers who would have

the same idea, for the study to be improved. Firstly, their sampling size must be bigger or wider sampling

size for more accurate results. Secondly, since this study used the experimental research design, the

researchers must give clear instructions to the participants especially the subjects of the experiment, so

that the process or procedure would be smooth and easier. Thirdly, the researchers must issue an

appointment letter earlier, so that the researchers would not run of time. Fourthly, the researchers

recommend that the future researchers should change their measurements from essay/ open questions to

close ended questions particularly in measuring the disadvantages and advantages of social networking

sites to the academic excellence of the students. This would make it easier for the respondents, panellists

and the readers too to understand it. Lastly, the researchers must think of a better way of securing their

subjects in following the instruction, for reliability.

 Furthermore, the researchers would like to recommend the findings of this study to the DEPED

by giving information regarding the effects of social networking sites to academic performance of the

students and preparing counter measures on the effects that would harm or damage their academic

performance. By doing this recommended idea, the DEPED could make a better educational system that

would put in the effects of social networking sites into the advantages of students.

B. Conclusion

SNS have become popular in the modern days. Most of the people especially teenagers and

students have been attached to SNS. SNS has become the source of a way to kill boredom where people

could spend their spare time in use for entertainment and educational purposes. Thus the researchers

conducted this study to find out more about the effect of SNS.

The researchers found out that, social networking sites can affect the academic excellence of the

high school students when the alternative hypothesis of the researchers was accepted and the null

hypothesis was rejected. According to the data gathered by the researchers, the effects of SNS to the

students were neutral. There are advantages of SNS were they could use it for educational purposes.

There are games in the SNS that are educational such as quiz game, trivia game and etc. These games

could improve the knowledge of students while playing. There are also some groups that are related to

education or pages that is about furthering the education. Since SNS are popular almost for all people

even the teachers have one. Students could communicate with their teachers regarding their lessons that

are hard to understand even after the school hours.

However, there are also disadvantages of SNS where students prioritize SNS before their studies.

Based on the data gathered by the researchers, students often use SNS and after school hours most of

them use SNS before studying their lessons. This kind of act would lead to dropping of their academic
performance. Moreover, there are lots of entertainment that could attract the students like Tetris,

Farmville, Triviador and Are you smarter than a fifth grader? These games could make the students lose

focus on what they are supposed to do and would unintentionally or unconsciously forget their

assignments or things that must be done on time. These could result in postponement of things that must

be passed and would also lead to dropping of their academic performance which was pointed out by

Nayzabekov (2012).

SNS has dual effects to the academic performance of the students. Students’ action would

guarantee one of the results since it will be up to them to decide what they will do. If the students see SNS

as a mere site that should not be put lot of attention on, it would not be bad since it will not become

addiction. However if the students seen SNS as a thing that needs lot of attention it could lead to

addiction and could be bad for their academic performance.

The study of E. Power and S. Nayzabekov which the researchers used as the reference for

conceptual framework are proven correct. Power (2012), concluded that, SNS has a positive effects to the

students achievement and engagement to their studies. In contrast, Nayzabekov (2012) concluded that,

SNS has negative effects to the academic excellence of the students. Based on the surveys which were

mentioned before, students think that social networking sites can affect them in neutral ways. However, as

they also said, there is more negative impact on their academic performance rather than positive effects.

Aside from that, Ms. Panong, a teacher and Ms. Arellano, a psychologist, both said that there are lots of

negative effects that social networking sites can bring to the academic excellence of the students.
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